Reply To: Found a fantastic series on Youtube (G.I. History Handbook).

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Great question. I could probably write a very boring essay on this topic. You may not agree with that essay and I may not be right in my views but, to sum it up in one word, gamefication (if that’s how you spell it).

Bolt Action is an entertaining game and designed for enjoyment on the table top. Gamers want to see troops and some armoured vehicles charging around. When you consider the scale, the table top is actually only 120m by 70m (rough estimate). That’s pretty small. If you played it realistically and true to what actually happened, you’d have maybe 3 or 4 models per side in that area, at least in open terrain. To make that interesting, you’d need a skirmish rule set and something very different.

So there probably are historically accurate rule sets out there. But then it is a case of striking a balance between scale, realism and ‘fun for the majority’. Looking back at old rule sets from yesteryear, they tried realism. But then they involved a lot of tables, rules and other faffing around that just isn’t as much fun. So while the game may not reflect the actual historical training regimes and other effects, the rules try to replicate but require unit cohesion for table top neatness and accuracy of game play.

It effectively boils down to playing a game and scale that you think fits what you want to achieve. 🙂